Without Me

I’m officially unemployed. Why? Because I just graduated,no job yet,and I have no idea how many months (or years?) I’ll be stuck at home, jobless. I’m not really a social media person. I only post once in a blue moon. I don’t know what came over me, but while I was scrolling through my feed, I randomly decided to check my friend request list. There were quite a few pending requests. One name caught my attention. He had the same surname as my former classmate, Jona. She lives just a meter away from our house, but we’re not that close. We were classmates once, though. I accepted his friend request out of curiosity and decided to stalk his profile a bit. I saw pictures of them together—it looked like he also lives near Jona. Then suddenly, a message popped up on my phone. It was him. “Oh my God, did I press something?” I whispered, surprised that he messaged me just a minute after I accepted the request. Him: “Hi, thanks for accepting my friend request.” Me: “You’re welcome.” Him: “Btw, good evening.” Me: “Good evening. Are you related to Jona?” Him: “Yes, we’re family. Why?” Me: “Nothing. She was my classmate and you have the same surname.” Him: “Oh, okay. We live on the same street too.” Bingo. My guess was right. Me: “Yeah? We recently moved here, though. We lived in the city for 8 years and only came back last year. Maybe that’s why I’m not familiar.” Him: “Hahaha yeah, I never saw you around before. I used to live with my Lola when I was young. But she passed away when I was 13, so my uncle adopted me.” That made me feel a little sad for him. Me: “I’m sorry to hear that. How old are you now?” Him: “I’m 22. You?” Me: “23. A year older.” Him: “So you’re my Manang? Hahaha!” Me: “Haha! Not that far apart. Anyway, I’m heading to bed. It was nice chatting with you.” Him: “Owww :( Good night!”